Here’s S’more Science for You

The ideal summer camp wouldn’t be complete without sitting around a campfire, roasting marshmallows on a stick, and eating S’mores. Camp Edvotek doesn’t want to miss out on this classic treat. We’ve got s’more science to share with you, this time about that perfect summertime delight.

Graham crackers:

Let’s start with the base. The ingredients in a graham cracker will vary slightly depending on the brand that you get, but most will contain wheat flour and soybean oil, both of which are produced through genetic engineering. 

Wheat has been genetically modified to be resistant to viruses, fungus, insects, drought, and ultimately lead to a larger crop yield. This is critical to farmers to be able to grow food without spraying environmentally damaging chemicals on their crops, or from losing their harvest to a drought. For example, HB4 is a drought resistant wheat which uses a gene from sunflower plants to slow down the deterioration of the plant if it hasn’t gotten water recently. This allows wheat farmers to have their crops hold out longer in the event of a drought.

Soybeans are infamous for being genetically modified. There are many different types of genetically modified soybeans to be resistant to herbicide, insects, and droughts similar to wheat. One example is called a Bt plant. This plant has a gene from a bacterium called Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) which disrupts the digestive tract of insects. This means that only insects that try to eat the crop will be affected, meaning pollinators are left unharmed while pests are controlled. Most importantly, the protein produced from the Bt gene only affects insects and is completely harmless to humans because of our vastly different digestive systems.

Now we know about the amazing and critical work of genetic engineering which goes into making a simple graham cracker. The other ingredients of a s’more undoubtedly are also genetically modified, but they also have other, different science about them. Now let’s move along to marshmallows.

Marshmallows

A s’more wouldn’t be complete without a warm, gooey, (potentially burned), marshmallow. Our fun fact about marshmallows is that they’re made almost entirely of air.

If you’ve ever tried to put a marshmallow into a microwave, you’ll see it grow bigger and bigger while it heats up. This is because of thermal expansion. The air molecules in the marshmallow begin to heat up and move around faster and faster. This will make the air expand and push the sides of the marshmallow out. 

Something similar happens if you’ve seen someone put a marshmallow in a vacuum chamber. The air on the inside of the marshmallow tries to escape, thereby inflating the marshmallow. If you go the other way and increase the pressure, the marshmallow will shrivel and shrink because the air pockets inside will collapse under the pressure.

Chocolate

When you think of what’s needed to make chocolate, what comes to mind? Probably cacao, sugar, and milk. But you probably also left out one of the most important ingredients: microbes. 

When cacao beans are harvested, the first step is to leave them out for a few days for them to ferment. The fermentation process in chocolate involves an interplay between yeast and acetic acid bacteria. Yeast break down carbohydrates into alcohols which the bacteria then use to create acetic acid. This acid lowers the pH and goes into the beans, which sets the stage for the production of chemicals that produce a chocolatey aroma. 

The breakdown of carbohydrates into alcohols and acetic acid depletes the plant of lots of its natural sugars. This is part of the reason why chocolate we eat has added sugars like sucrose or lactose in the case of milk chocolate.

Proteins also play a role in the fermentation process. While protein isn’t what comes to mind when we think of chocolate, there are natural proteins found in cacao beans since it is a plant. These proteins break down during fermentation into free amino acids, the chemicals which make up proteins. 

 After fermentation, the beans are then roasted which is when they develop their chocolatey taste. This is just one more reason to be thankful for all of the work microorganisms do for us. Without microbes, your tasty s’more would be chocolateless. 

For this week’s badge, here are some fun things to try:

• Do some research on the food around your house. Check for what might be genetically modified and learn about how each plant’s modification helps it grow
• Put a marshmallow in a microwave to watch thermal expansion in action. Do this carefully because it can make a mess! 
• Try making some fermented food. A great guide is a previous post on making sourdough bread
• Finally, make some s’mores and appreciate all of the science that goes into each delicious bite!